Footings for porch / deck?

[NM_Shooter]

I want to put a porch on the long side of my cabin.  I'll be attaching a ledger board to the cabin rim joist.  I'm thinking of attaching it using some short sections of PT wood as shims to keep the ledger off the hardi-siding to allow for draining.

The porch will be fairly shallow.  Maybe only 6' from front to back.  Enough for a lawn chair+ a couple of feet.

I'm wondering about the footing for the porch posts.  I'm not about to go through another pier digging exercise; that darn near killed me. I'm thinking about digging a shallow hole... maybe 12", filling with gravel, putting a 2" concrete square pad, and then a concrete post base on top.  I figure that I can adjust for settling as necessary.

Thoughts?

[rocking23nf]

Just build it on blocks, easy, quick, could have it done in a day.

as long as its under 6 feet high, its allowed in most places.

[MountainDon]

Is that layer of Hardie Plank you wish to secure the ledger to. nailed dead flat against the rim/band joist?

If it is then I suppose you could secure the ledger over it. I lag screwed my porch ledger to the rim joist with a double spaced set of washers at each lag hole. That left an air/water space behind the ledger. There is no Hardie plank behind the ledger, only building paper.

The question of a ledger for a porch floor begs an answer to the question, what about a ledger for a roof? Will there be a roof or the rainy days? That should be tied (lag screwed) to the wall studs but with the lap siding that could be a problem.   


As for the footing idea, considering that you are in the middle of nowheres, I think gravel and concrete pad might be okay. Maybe those pyramid shaped post blocks would be better then a 2" thick pad though.    What about snow load from the roof if there is to be one?

[NM_Shooter]

Thanks folks...

Bottom Hardiplank is nailed flush to rimjoist.  I like the idea of spacing with washers. 

Probably a roof over it eventually.... hoping to make it hinge-able.  Will set it up when we are there, and fold it down when we leave to secure the windows.  I'm thinking of framing it out of 2x4, with a 2X8 ledger up under the eave. I am worried about the mounting integrity since the hardiplank is lapped up there.  But since it will be zero snow load, I am considering this more of a hard-awning than anything else. 

Eventually want to have screen panels for it too!

I will use the pyramid blocks, but thought I would place them on the flat blocks so that I could more easily shim them later if needed.  But I may just use the blocks alone.

[MountainDon]

Thanks folks...

Bottom Hardiplank is nailed flush to rimjoist.  I like the idea of spacing with washers.  

I "glued" them to the 2x with acrylic sealant a day or two before fitting the ledger to the cabin. That saved me from juggling the ledger, lags and washers.


Cool idea for the hinged roof/awning/window shutter.